People you wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley

[18th Shard he/him]

"Xanas and Redbird of the Dark Alley, milady. We've remedied some of the excess investiture and the cognitive control the Shards had over Winter, but we can't really block several Shards at once. Plus, her Spiritual Aspect is completely open to interference, and the various Investiture bestowed by spikes and her innate Allomancy allows Ruin, Preservation, and perhaps a few others some extra 'ins' to her mind."

 

Xanas turned on the lights. "Forgot you can't see in the dark."

Edited February 27, 2015 by 18th Shard

[Queen Elsa Steelheart she/her]

Queen Elsa put away her ice torch now that the light were on. She didn't even know Dark Alleys even had lights. Wern't they suppose to be Dark?

"So is Winter safe? Why was she screaming? What's wrong with her?"

"And where is she?"

[18th Shard he/him]

Of course we have lights. Some customers are afraid of the dark.

[Cheese United he/him]

"So what you're saying is, Winter is on the more ngative side of the emotion spectrum right now, and now is not the best time to ask her about the money she owes me. Also, has anyone attempted to discover what it is that the Shards want with her? That seems like it would be inportant to know, in case this happens again"

[Voidus]

Voidus staggered out from behind the Newcagoan party, somewhat exhausted from his continued teleportation and opening up and shifting of the Alleys dimensional planes to allow others to access it.

"Lots of Shardic.. intervention." He managed to wheeze out, rifling through a nearby hidden cavity in the wall until he found a pair of metalminds, he tapped them both, instantly becoming healthier and more alert.

"Ah, much better." He resumed his usual aloof and mysterious bearing "We cannot divine the intents of the Shards with any amount of ease, however I can perhaps utilize some Duralumin with our vast stores of Atium granted to us graciously by Ruin to see where this is all headed."

[Fatebreaker he/him]

"No, bringing up debts is probably not the best idea. You might not even be talking to Winter."

 

The Stranger materialized from a shadow. He reached into a pocket of his dark grey lab coat, as if searching for something. After rummaging around for a while, he tried another pocket, then several more. 

"Now where did I put those, ah yes."

He lifted his tophat and pulled out a pair of goggles with opaque black lenses. He placed them on his face as he addressed the group.

 

"You see, Test Subject 52, or was it 79? Anyway, Winter as you know her underwent a, unique procedure. I was testing a breakthrough, and she seemed like a wonderfully helpful person. And so Winter became one of the first ever receivers of an Essence Spike, something I'd whipped up in Alley 9. Though it was simply meant to be a stepping stone in the path to my goal, it turned out to be a fantastic discovery in it's own right. 

 

I was able to spike out a Soul."

 

The Stranger grinned with delight, reveling in this revelation and the awe of the other Denizens.

 

"Not just a piece of a Spirit-web, but an entire soul. There are two entities inhabiting her body as we speak: The Girl, and The Wolf.

It was one of our semi-sentient wolves Redbird had crafted here in the Alleys, fine craftsmanship all around. Interestingly, the transfer didn't quite go as planned. Instead of the wolf taking over and subduing the girl's consciousness, it chose to cohabitate with her, in a semi-mutualistic relationship. With her cognitive and spiritual Identities so radically changed, the test subject gained the ability to shapeshift.

 

Unfortunately, there were a few unforeseen side-effects. One is that occasionally the Wolf will fight the Girl for conscious-dominance, resulting in apparent madness. However, as an expert in the art of madness, I can assure you that the test subject is not mad, just a little mixed-up.

 

The other slight issue is that this merging of souls, combined with the extremely high hemalurgic energy I used, left her rather susceptible to Shardic Influence. As such, she may be having a few interesting conversations in her head that she'd rather not have.

 

Which brings us to the matter at hand: Do we simply contain this situation, or do I need to remove the Spike? We could keep her safe here, free from any shard's reach. But the choice will be up to her, unless you say otherwise, Elsa. Or the DA votes to do something. personally, I'd like to take this opportunity to conduct some more, research."

 

He turned to each person individually, his grin becoming Cheshire as Madness-spren swirled around him.

 

"But that can wait. Meanwhile, we should be able to deal with the Shards. I haven't made all these preparations for nothing. And Worst Comes to Worst, I can always access 

That Alley." 

[Screwloose]

The last person the Stranger turned to grinned right back.

 

"I knew this little group looked interesting." Said Screwloose, adjusting his own goggles. "Love the outfit by the way."

 

Screwloose eyed the assortment of weapons suddenly pointed his way from the DA members in the crowd, raising an eyebrow. "Relax, i'm not here to fight or steal stuff again. If my boss is the one who started this mess then its only right that I help to fix it."

[Redbird he/him]

It seems someone should probably remove that essence spike before winter explodes or something. And even though she is out of the range of a direct shardic attack, she still seems to be in a lot of pain.

Edited February 28, 2015 by Redbird

[Mailliw73 he/him]

 

"Odium." 

 

YOU CALLED?

[Cheese United he/him]

Explosions do sound harmful to her health

[Queen Elsa Steelheart she/her]

Explosions do sound harmful to her health

 

 

"Explosions?!? What are you doing to her?"

[Mailliw73 he/him]

Meant the other one, Mailliw. The new one, please?

My successor has not chosen to reveal their identity as of yet. Stay patient, little one. Hatred will find you sometime.

[the Gleeman he/him]

The Gleeman teleported to the incident. 

 

"And here I thought the party was over!"

 

He laid down a box filled with Soother-Pulser frogs. Nothing eliminated pain like a duralumin enhanced frog blast. He was also surprised by the speed at which he had arrived. The new crystalline spikes seemed to be working perfectly. 

[Queen Elsa Steelheart she/her]

Which brings us to the matter at hand: Do we simply contain this situation, or do I need to remove the Spike? We could keep her safe here, free from any shard's reach. But the choice will be up to her, unless you say otherwise, Elsa. Or the DA votes to do something. personally, I'd like to take this opportunity to conduct some more, research."

He turned to each person individually, his grin becoming Cheshire as Madness-spren swirled around him.

"But that can wait. Meanwhile, we should be able to deal with the Shards. I haven't made all these preparations for nothing. And Worst Comes to Worst, I can always access

That Alley."

Elsa thought for a moment.

"As long as you do not harm or hurt her in anyway, she's weak enough already from the Parshendi battle. Am I allowed to see her please?"

Edited March 1, 2015 by Queen Elsa Steelheart

[Mailliw73 he/him]

Thanks your followers for systematically slaughtering the Shardic Coalition... *grumble, grumble*

You brought about your own downfall.

[Guest]

You brought about your own downfall.

Ouch. Relegated to spitting out petty statements. It burns you, doesn't it...to have come so close.

[Jo and the Bush all/any]

Does it burn snoopy? To know how many innocents you've killed? How many shards you've let die?

[Fatebreaker he/him]

"Thanks to our disclaimer, he isn't obliged to answer that."

 

The Stranger glanced at the test subject, noting that her seizing was growing more extreme. Meters and gauges on the wall were going wild, and a low warning klaxon began to sound. He turned back to Elsa,

 

"Going in there might not be the best idea. Hows about you and the rest of our lovely guests wait in that room behind you, while we Denizens deal with this."

 

He snapped his fingers and  A group of figures wearing black lab coats entered silently from a concealed door behind a pillar. They wore featureless metal masks, etched with varying cryptic symbols, and each had a spike rammed through the forehead and out the back of the skull. They filed in silently and stood in between The Denizens and their guests.

 

"Denizens, I'm going to need a Multi-Realm lock down. No signatures or energies of any kind will be permitted in or out of this facility. Once the Deadzone is active I'm going to need two of my extraction gauntlets, which can be found in any of our Recycling facilities, along with a full reclamation kit. And most importantly,"

 

He turned towards the Test Subject,

 

"Remember to bring some cookies."

[Queen Elsa Steelheart she/her]

"Fine. How long till I can see her? I would like to see her soon."

[Mailliw73 he/him]

Ouch. Relegated to spitting out petty statements. It burns you, doesn't it...to have come so close.

Does it burn snoopy? To know how many innocents you've killed? How many shards you've let die?

So close? Hatred has already pervaded even your deepest ranks. You hate. All hate. Hatred triumphs and Odium reigns.

[Mailliw73 he/him]

We found Jain, by the way. How does it feel that your sucessor has failed? 

I saw. But Hatred has won. Hatred is seeping through the remnants of your organization. Hatred doesn't conquer, it spreads. 

[Mailliw73 he/him]

I can get them back together in no time. 

Devotion means nothing. One can be devoted to Hate.

[Mailliw73 he/him]

We can also be devoted to Ruin. The contradictions of Kae... 

So you see the real power of Devotion. Devotion has no loyalties. Hatred has already entered you. 

[Mailliw73 he/him]

Yes, yes. Devotion is rather impressive with her lack of loyalties. Kae and Cleo are already feeling the Intent. 

Corrupting your followers? I'm rather impressed. You'd make a fine Odium.

[Mailliw73 he/him]

I wish :C

It is never too late to join us.